Simon’s petrified eyes suddenly opened. He tried to cry out, but the tape prevented him making much sound, except for several high-pitched squeals. He began to struggle like a maniac. Each movement caused the cord to tighten further.
Don laughed. “Got yourself into a bit of a pickle, haven’t you, boy? Squealing like a piggy, and trussed up like a turkey. The freezer’s the only place for you.”
Tears ran from the man’s eyes, and a steady stream of piss flowed from his flaccid penis.
“Ooh, look! You’re leaking from your turkey twizzler. You’ll regret doing that, when you stick yourself to the sausages.”
After more frantic wriggling, Simon’s face turned scarlet, and his eyes bulged.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be kind, and close the lid to make it faster—I’m not a total fruit loop, you know.” With that, he slammed the lid down.
Using his drill and pop rivets, he fitted a clasp and padlock to the lid, then went about tidying the flat.
***
A loud bang and muffled scream startled Hannah awake again. She held her breath and listened but everything was silent. It must have been a dream. She groaned and pulled the duvet over her head once more. She couldn’t face the world yet.
An hour or so later, she dragged herself out of bed, vowing to steer clear of the wine for a while. She hoped Simon was alright. He was coming over all heavy last night, and at one point, she suspected he was about to declare his undying love for her. She liked him a lot, but they were still missing that vital spark she felt when she was around Max. She thought she could settle last night, but now, she didn’t want to just settle, without finding out if there could be a future for her and Max.
Lying on the sofa with a thin blanket, she reached for her phone and sighed. She needed to get this over with.
***
A ringing sound led Don to the bedroom, and he found Simon’s phone underneath the pillow on the bed. The display said, Hottie next door.
His finger hovered over the end button, but then he stopped, and instead, answered the call.
Her breathy tones filled his ear. “Hi, Simon. How’s the head?”
Don silently held the phone close.
“Simon?”
After a few more seconds, she hung up.
Don relaxed and began breathing again. Then, he was startled by a different melodic tone. A text.
Hottie next door- Hope you’re feeling ok. My head feels like a brass band has taken up residence—never again, lol.
He considered replying, but another message came through before he’d made up his mind.
Hottie next door- I hope you’re not upset with me. I like you, but last night was a mistake. I’d prefer to go back to being friends. Can we start again?
Delighted she’d rebuffed the sleazy predator, Don punched the air with glee, before replying.
Yes, I agree. Huge mistake. I’ve received some bad news, and had to go away for a while. Speak soon.
Hottie next door- Oh no! Is it your nan? Are you heading back to the States already?
Yes, and yes. I’m waiting for a standby flight. I’ll be in touch.
Hottie next door- Is there anything you need me to do?
If I send you my work number, can I get you to call them tomorrow, and explain?
Hottie next door- Of course I will. Hugs. Safe flight.
Without knowing, Hannah had given him the perfect explanation. Now, there was no reason he couldn’t use the flat, so long as he kept the noise down. He couldn’t get closer to her if he tried. It would suit his purposes perfectly.
He stripped the bed, and cleaned up the dishes and food from the night before. Then, he put all Simon’s clothes in two large rubbish bags, intending to put them in the clothes bins for the homeless outside his local Asda.
Once everywhere was tidy, he walked toward the double-skinned brick, dividing wall between the flats. Knowing Hannah was on the other side made him warm inside. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out Hannah’s white panties. Then he stripped off all his clothes, and lay on the carpet facing the cold brick, placing the sweet, musky-smelling panties to his face.
Her scent relaxed him, and he sighed, closing his eyes, happy in the knowledge he’d managed to protect her from the scumbag in the freezer. She’s mine. Forever. He drifted off, dreaming of a time when they would be together as a couple, a contented smile on his face.
*
Don woke with a start an hour or so later. Getting ready to leave, he dressed, and returned Hannah’s panties to his jacket pocket. The keys to the flat were on the hallstand.
The tricky bit would be to get past Hannah’s front window without being seen.
As an afterthought, he checked on Simon. He unlocked the padlock and lifted the lid. Don belted out a laugh, as he took in the scene before him.
Simon’s cheeks were red raw, and a fine layer of frost coated his entire body. A stream of snot had frozen, and hung from his nostril. Don thought he was already dead at first, until he noticed Simon’s eyelid had frozen open, stuck to the side of the freezer, and his eyeball was rolling around aimlessly.
Don figured he must be blind already, as the eye didn’t seem to focus on anything at all.
“Wow! You know what, you sick fuck? The super freeze function really works! But, don’t worry, you’ll be out in time for Christmas.”
Don’s laughter and the slamming of the lid would be the last things Simon would hear, as he succumbed to the freezing cold darkness awaiting him.
***
Hannah didn’t surface again until early afternoon. With a raging thirst, she stomped to the kitchen for a drink. After knocking back two full glasses of iced water, she scanned the contents of the fridge. She needed to eat something, but nothing appealed to her in the slightest. She returned to the sofa, and closed her eyes once again.
Chapter 13
On Monday morning, Hannah found Devlin, the marketing manager, perched on the edge of her desk. He had several members of staff around him, who all seemed to be listening intently.
Devlin hopped to his feet when he noticed her. “Okay, then, back to the grind.” He clapped his hands, and the crowd dispersed.
“What’s happened?” she asked, placing her bag down on the desk.
“Oh, didn’t you hear?” Devlin’s eyebrows arched upwards. “They found Steven Miller dead at the bottom of the lift shaft.”
Hannah gasped. “Oh my God! That’s terrible!” She immediately thought of Max. No wonder he hadn’t been in touch with her all weekend. He must be devastated.
“How did it happen?” she asked.
Devlin shrugged. “He fell, as far as I know. There was a fault with the lift, and he must’ve tried to fix it, or something. Poor bastard. Imagine falling all that way! My stomach does a flip when I’m going down inside the lift.”
“Oh, don’t.” Hannah shoved his arm. “It makes me feel ill just thinking about it.”
Angela Beanie arrived to take the Monday morning meeting, and Hannah’s heart sank further. Where the hell was Max?
Angela asked to speak to Hannah after the meeting. She was as tight-lipped and curt as she’d been the previous week.
Hannah longed to ask if she’d done something to upset her, but she didn’t feel she knew her well enough to be so informal.
After pouring them both a coffee, Angela indicated they sit beside each other on the sofa. “So, how’s it going?”
Hannah nodded. “Great. I’m loving my job.”
“I hear Danny Leno asked for you to be on his campaign?”
“Yes. That’s right. We were supposed to meet on Friday, but he was held up.”
“So I hear.” She smiled, her eyes expressionless. “Can I be frank with you, Hannah?”
“Of course, you can.” Hannah’s stomach dropped.
“Being the new girl here, you should be wary of making enemies.”
“Enemies? I don’t understand.”
“I don’t know how it works at
the Daily Post, but there is a kind of hierarchy here. Some of your colleagues have worked hard to get to their positions, and you come along with one notable deal under your belt, and you’re getting preferential treatment. People are talking—calling it favouritism.”
Hannah was flabbergasted. She shook her head, trying to dissect Angela’s words and the underlying meaning. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise I was being treated any differently. As far as I knew, Danny Leno asked for me personally. That’s hardly my fault.”
Angela curled her lip scornfully and her nostrils flared. “Do you really think Danny Leno would have asked for you, just like that? After one meeting, you’d had him eating out of your hand? Pull the other one.”
“I don’t follow you. If not him, then who asked for me?”
“Oh, Hannah, Hannah. You are naïve. Didn’t you even suspect when Mr Leno didn’t show? It’s the oldest trick in the book.”
“What is? You don’t mean … Max?”
“Of course, I mean Max. But, don’t flatter yourself. He does the same with every pretty new employee.”
Hannah could feel her cheeks burn up as tears pricked her eyes.
The older woman reached out and patted Hannah’s knee. “I’m sorry to upset you, dear. But, I couldn’t stand by, and let him make a fool of you. Most of the women know the score; they’re worldly-wise, but you’re so innocent and trusting.”
Hannah wiped the tears from her face. “I feel so stupid.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it, kid. It happens to the best of us, at one time or another.”
***
After a hectic weekend, Max took off to the lake house for some much needed sleep. He thought about calling Hannah, but figured it wouldn’t look good calling her at work, so decided to wait until later.
Their evening kept playing over in his mind. He was pleased Danny hadn’t made it, in the end. He almost called her from the taxi on Friday night on his way back to his apartment at AdCor, but, feeling like a love-struck teenager, he ended the call. However, he now wished he had called. Once he’d found out about Steven, he hadn’t had five minutes to himself. He was worried Hannah would think he didn’t care, considering he’d left it so long.
The drive to the lake house always chilled him out. He put the roof down on his silver Mercedes Cabriolet, and the stresses of the business and chaos of the city fell away the closer he got to his destination. The last twenty minutes of the journey had stunning water views, and that was when he completely switched off from work.
His parents had purchased the property years ago with the intention of retiring, but although they soon returned to the grind, and had the flat added onto to the main office, they still kept the lake house to escape to whenever they could.
He turned off the road into the driveway, drove past the little cottage where Charmaine and Lenny, his housekeeper and caretaker, lived. The large stone house peeked through the trees. He hit the garage door opener, and drove straight in to the four-car garage.
He grabbed his bag, and ran up the interior stairs to the living area on the first floor. Charmaine always made sure the fridge and larder were well stocked in anticipation of his return. After devouring a cheese sandwich, he went out onto the veranda, and climbed into his hammock.
Mid-afternoon, Max woke with a start. Although pleased he’d caught up on some much-needed rest, he hadn’t meant to sleep quite so long. He had a lot of work he should be getting on with.
He found several emails from Angela when he turned on his laptop, but one in particular surprised him. She told him Hannah had pulled her to one side that morning, and asked to be taken off the Leno campaign.
Why would she do that? They’d had a great time on Friday, even though Leno hadn’t showed, and she hadn’t seemed at all bothered. Today was only Monday, so it wasn’t as if anything could have happened over the weekend. He was more determined than ever to call her at home later.
***
Don returned to Simon’s flat straight from work on Monday morning. He lugged up a holdall filled with his personal items, and after making the bed, crashed for a few hours.
He was vaguely aware of Hannah taking a shower next door, just after 8 am, and he smiled contentedly, and snuggled further into the duvet.
Around lunchtime, he woke, showered, and made himself two slices of toast, courtesy of the contents of the fridge. Then, he set about hacking into Simon’s laptop.
It didn’t take long. Don was a seasoned IT expert. Once in, finding all the man’s stored passwords was a breeze. He read several emails to get the gist of what was happening in the man’s life, preferring to face potential problems head-on, rather than have them knock at the door.
Firstly, he emailed Simon’s mother. From what he could gather, Simon was intending to return to the USA soon, and warning bells would sound if he just didn’t show up. So, using the same wording from the previous emails, he told her he’d been offered a job too good to turn down, and he would be in touch as soon as he could.
The next email he sent was to Simon’s boss, reiterating what Hannah had no doubt told them, if she’d kept to her word.
Once all the loose ends were tied up, he set about logging in to the security cameras he’d set up next door. It was strange to be able to see Hannah’s home from every angle, and know he was so close.
On his days off, he would be able to sleep less than three feet away from her—watch her every movement, and record each snuffle and snore. The mere thought of it caused his entire body to tingle.
Chapter 14
Hannah made it through the rest of the day on autopilot. Every time she allowed her thoughts to replay Angela’s brutal words, she flushed deeply.
Feeling like a fool, she could hardly wait to get home and spill the whole story to Diane. She’d been working all weekend, so Hannah hadn’t told her about her fling with Simon yet.
Angela sent a message after lunch, informing her she’d officially removed Hannah from the Leno campaign. As she read it, tears pricked her eyes, and she ran to the bathroom hoping nobody had noticed the cry-baby new girl.
After crying all her makeup off, she felt wretched for the rest of the day. Diane gasped when she answered Hannah’s knock later on.
“What’s wrong, sweetie? Come in. Come in.” Diane rushed her through to the kitchen, and sat opposite her at the small bistro table. She listened while Hannah poured her heart out, gasping and sighing at all the right moments. But, she was clearly shocked to hear about Simon’s moonlight flit.
“I know! I tried to call a couple of times, then I sent a text. I thought he was ignoring me, because I’d been a little standoffish once the passion had died down, but he messaged me back eventually, and said he was already at the airport.”
“Poor Simon. I knew his grandmother was sick, but I didn’t think she was that sick.” Diane got to her feet and filled the coffee pot.
“Same. He’d only told me about her the night before, and I knew they were close. He must’ve been devastated to get the dreaded call.”
“I’ll email him tomorrow. He should be home by now,” Diane said.
“Oh, good. Can you tell him I said hi? I don’t have his email address.”
“Of course I will, and I’ll forward you his address. What are you going to do about your boss?”
Hannah shrugged. “Not a lot I can do. He’s made a fool of me, that’s for certain.”
“Thank goodness this Angela chick had the decency to be honest with you.”
“I know you’re right, but I actually think she got a kick out of it.”
Diane shook her head. “What kind of person could get a kick out of something like that?”
“I don’t know, but I’d put money on her being one of them.”
“She might be wrong. I mean, look at you—you’re a stunner. I reckon he’ll be falling over himself to get back in your good books.”
“I doubt it. But, I must admit, I’d love you to be right,” Hannah said sadly.
>
“Trust your auntie Diane. You’ll be on like Donkey Kong by the weekend.”
Hannah laughed. “We’ll see.”
After coffee, Hannah left Diane to get ready for work, and headed to her own flat.
As soon as she stepped in the door, the strange smell hit her again. She shuddered, and reminded herself of what Simon had said—the flat just needed her input in order for it to feel loved, and smell like home.
She couldn’t face cooking, so she ordered a pizza, and took a shower while she waited for it to be delivered.
As she turned the water jets off, the phone began to ring. She grabbed a towel, and quickly rubbed her hair before wrapping it around her body. The ringing had stopped by the time she reached it. She checked the caller display, and her stomach dropped. It was Max.
Backing away from the phone, as though it was some sort of incendiary device, she leapt out of her skin as the doorbell sounded. What the hell was wrong with her? Why did the womanising prick make her feel like this?
She answered the door still wrapped in the towel, dripping water everywhere. Not that the pizza delivery guy minded—his eyes almost boggled out of their sockets.
***
After finishing his paperwork, Max headed to the cottage to catch up with Charmaine and Lenny. Lenny was actually an old friend of his from school, who had found himself in a pickle after losing his job at the local sports centre. The timing couldn’t have been better, as it coincided with Max needing to replace Katherine and Colin, the elderly couple who’d been in the position since his parents ran the place.
The Watcher : A Chilling Serial Killer Thriller Page 8
